The Effectiveness of Cannabis in Treating Insomnia: A Study from Releaf and The University of New Mexico

17

August, 2018

Studies, Wellness

If you’ve been keeping up with our blog posts this month, you’ve already read that cannabis can be a very effective treatment for insomnia. Are you one of the millions of Americans who has trouble catching ZZZ’s on a regular basis, or know someone who is? Read on to learn exactly how you can achieve relief with cannabis.

This is a very unique point in time for the cannabis industry. Nearly all states in the US have some form of medical marijuana program, with updates and changes being made to them regularly. More and more dispensaries, with state-dependent rules and regulations, are opening their doors to qualifying patients in need of the plant. But because there is no nationwide consistency in the testing, labeling, or selection of products sold in these dispensaries, it’s been difficult to give general recommendations to patients living in the US who want to treat a specific symptom (like insomnia, for example)…until now!

Releaf App recently teamed up with a trio of researchers at the University of New Mexico to determine the effectiveness of cannabis flower in treating insomnia under naturalistic conditions. Jacob Vigil, PhD, Sarah Stith, and JP Diviant accomplished this by analyzing the anonymized data from 409 insomnia patients who used Releaf App to track their efforts in using cannabis flower to help them fall asleep. The result? Cannabis is indeed effective at treating insomnia. But that’s not all.

In addition to looking at fluctuation in symptom level, the researchers also studied combustion method, cannabis subtypes, and THC/CBD levels of the cannabis flower used during these sessions.

Here’s what we discovered together:

Indica and hybrid strains were less associated with negative side-effects than sativa strains.

Pipes and vaporizers were associated with greater insomnia relief than smoking joints.

Vaporizing was associated with fewer negative side-effects than smoking joints.

CBD was associated with greater insomnia relief than THC.

So put down that joint and load up your vaporizer with some fresh indica flower, preferably with a high CBD content! You’ll sleep well knowing that your treatment of choice is backed by research. And don’t forget to log your session in Releaf. Your experience may very well contribute to a future study that will help current and future patients.